WVC 3 - 3 - 4
§3-3-4. Assistance to voter in voting an absent voter's ballot by
personal appearance; penalties.
(a) Any registered voter who requires assistance to vote by
reason of blindness, disability, advanced age or inability to read
and write may be given assistance by a person of the voter's
choice: Provided, That the assistance may not be given by the
voter's present or former employer or agent of that employer, by
the officer or agent of a labor union of which the voter is a past
or present member or by a candidate on the ballot.

(b) Any voter who requests assistance in voting an absent
voter's ballot but who is determined by the official designated to
supervise and conduct absentee voting not to be qualified for
assistance under the provisions of this section and section
thirty-four, article one of this chapter may vote a challenged
absent voter's ballot with the assistance of any person authorized
to render assistance pursuant to this section. The official
designated to supervise and conduct absentee voting shall in this
case challenge the absent voter's ballot on the basis of his or her
determination that the voter is not qualified for assistance.

(c) Any one or more of the election commissioners or poll
clerks in the precinct to which an absent voter's ballot has been
sent may challenge the ballot on the ground that the voter received
assistance in voting it when in his or their opinion: (1) The person who received the assistance in voting the absent voter's
ballot did not require assistance; or (2) the person who provided
the assistance in voting did not make an affidavit as required by
this section. The election commissioner or poll clerk or
commissioners or poll clerks making a challenge shall enter the
challenge and reason for the challenge on the form and in the
manner prescribed or authorized by this article.

(d) Before entering the voting booth or compartment, the
person who intends to provide a voter assistance in voting shall
make an affidavit, the form of which is to be prescribed by the
secretary of state, that he or she will not in any manner request
or seek to persuade or induce the voter to vote any particular
ticket or for any particular candidate or for or against any public
question and that he or she will not keep or make any memorandum or
entry of anything occurring within the voting booth or compartment
and that he or she will not, directly or indirectly, reveal to any
person the name of any candidate voted for by the voter or which
ticket he or she had voted or how he or she had voted on any public
question or anything occurring within the voting booth or
compartment or voting machine booth, except when required pursuant
to law to give testimony as to the matter in a judicial proceeding.

(e) In accordance with instructions issued by the secretary of
state, the official designated to supervise and conduct absentee voting shall provide a form entitled "List of Assisted Voters",
prescribed by the secretary of state, which list is to be divided
into two parts. Part A is to be entitled "Unchallenged Assisted
Voters" and Part B is to be entitled "Challenged Assisted Voters".
Under Part A, the official designated to supervise and conduct
absentee voting shall enter the name of each voter receiving
unchallenged assistance in voting an absent voter's ballot, the
address of the voter assisted, the nature of the disability which
qualified the voter for assistance in voting an absent voter's
ballot, the name of the person providing the voter with assistance
in voting an absent voter's ballot, the fact that the person
rendering the assistance in voting made and subscribed to the oath
required by this section and the signature of the official
designated to supervise and conduct absentee voting certifying to
the fact that he or she had determined that the voter who received
assistance in voting an absent voter's ballot was qualified to
receive the assistance under the provisions of this section. Under
Part B, the official designated to supervise and conduct absentee
voting shall enter the name of each voter receiving challenged
assistance in voting, the address of the voter receiving challenged
assistance, the reason for the challenge and the name of the person
providing the challenged voter with assistance in voting. At the
close of the period provided for voting an absent voter's ballot by personal appearance, the official designated to supervise and
conduct absentee voting shall make and subscribe to an oath on the
list that the list is correct in all particulars; if no voter has
been assisted in voting an absent voter's ballot as provided in
this section, the official designated to supervise and conduct
absentee voting shall make and subscribe to an oath of that fact on
the list. The "List of Assisted Voters" is to be available for
public inspection in the office of the official designated to
supervise and conduct absentee voting during regular business hours
throughout the period provided for voting an absent voter's ballot
by personal appearance and, unless otherwise directed by the
secretary of state, the official shall transmit the list, together
with the affidavits, applications and absent voters' ballots, to
the precincts on election day.

(f) Following the election, the affidavits required by this
section from persons providing assistance in voting, together with
the "List of Assisted Voters", are to be returned by the election
commissioners to the clerk of the county commission, along with the
election supplies, records and returns, who shall make the oaths
and list available for public inspection and who shall preserve the
oaths and list for twenty-two months or, if under order of the
court, until their destruction or other disposition is authorized
or directed by the court.

(g) Any person making an affidavit required under the
provisions of this section who knowingly swears falsely in the
affidavit or any person who counsels or advises, aids or abets
another in the commission of false swearing under this section is
guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be
fined not more than one thousand dollars or confined in the county
or regional jail for a period of not more than one year, or both.

(h) Any person who provides a voter assistance in voting an
absent voter's ballot in the office of the official designated to
supervise and conduct absentee voting who is not qualified or
permitted by this section to provide assistance is guilty of a
misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more
than one thousand dollars or imprisoned in the county or regional
jail for a period of not more than one year, or both.

(i) Any official designated to supervise and conduct absentee
voting, election commissioner or poll clerk who authorizes or
allows a voter to receive or to have received unchallenged
assistance in voting an absent voter's ballot when the voter is
known to the official designated to supervise and conduct absentee
voting or election commissioner or poll clerk not to be or have
been authorized by the provisions of this section to receive or to
have received assistance in voting is guilty of a misdemeanor and,
upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars or imprisoned in the county or regional jail for a period
of not more than one year, or both.

(j) The term "physical disability" as used in this section
means blindness or a degree of blindness as will prevent the voter
from seeing the names on the ballot or amputation of both hands or
a disability of both hands that neither can be used to make cross
marks on the absent voter's ballot.

Note: WV Code updated with legislation passed through the 2014 1st Special Session
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